Vehicle lighting unit



Aug. 29, 1939. E. HAWKINS 2,171,089

VEHICLE LIGHTING UNIT Filed Aug. 9, 1958 3! CREAM 27 llllHu INVENTOR.124 lhw/mvs,

WW A ORNEY.

Patented Aug. 29, 1939 PATENT OFFICE 2,171,089 VEHICLE LIGHTING UNITElza Hawkins, Los 'Angeles, Calit, assignor to 7 -Good HumorIce CreamCompany of Los Angeles, Los Angeles,'Calif., a corporation ofCalivfornia 1 l Application August 9, 1938, Serial No. 223,833 1. Claim.(01. 240-82) able material and secured to the side 8 ofthe My inventionrelates to a lighting unit and has particular reference to 'acombination forward, rear and flood lighting unit having particularutility when employed with vehicles bearing signs or other mattersrequiring artificial lighting.

As is well known, vehicles travelling the streets at night requireforward and rear lights, and when such vehicles bear signs oradvertising matter, it is the practice to supply additional floodlighting units for lighting these signs. If individual lighting unitsare used for these purposes, the first cost is relatively high and themost of maintenance is in proportion to the number of lighting unitsemployed. Furthermore, the distribution of a considerable number oflighting units about the vehicle tends to detract from the pleasingappearance of the vehicle.

It is therefore a primary object of my invention to provide acombination lighting unit which will adequately serve three purposes;namely, act as a forward or head light, as a rear or tail light and as aflood light for signs or other matter requiring artificial illumination.

It is an additional object of my invention to improve the appearance ofa vehicle of this class by employing a fewer number of lighting unitsfor accomplishing the aforementioned object.

It is also an additional object of my invention to provide a novelreflecting unit for a combination light of this type to facilitatereplacement of the lamps in the unit.

Other objects and advantages of my invention will be apparent from astudy of the following specification, read in connection with theaccompanying drawing, wherein Fig. 1 is an elevation showing thecombination lighting unit of my invention installed on a vehicle fordispensing ice cream.

Fig. 2 is a longitudinal vertical section through the lighting unitshowing the relation of the various parts.

Fig. 3 is a cross section taken on the line 33 of Fig. 2 to showadditional details of construction.

Fig. 4 is a simplified wiring diagram which may be employed in thepractice of my invention.

Referring to Fig. 1, I have illustrated my invention as applied as alighting unit upon an ice cream dispensing vehicle 5, though it will beunderstood that the same may be applied to other forms of vehicles. Ihave illustrated combination lighting units 6, embodying my inventionattached to each side of such vehicle. The lighting unit 6 includes abase I as shown in Figs. 2 and 3 constructed of metal or othersuitvehicle 5 as by bolts or screws 9. Attached to the base I is atubular lamp housing I which may besecured to the base I in any suitablemanner. However, I prefer to use a chase nipple H which serves the dualpurpose of holding the lamp housing rigidly to the base and providing awireway I2 for the installation of the necessary wiring for the lamps.

At each end of the housing I have provided light projectors, whichinclude lenses 'or light directing elements, I3 and Hi, the forward lensI3 preferably being clear or white, while the rear lens I4 is preferablyconstructed of ruby glass to provide a red rear light. The lenses I3 andHI 'are secured'to the housing II] by means of retaining rings I5, whichhave an inward turned flange I6 for engaging a corresponding outwardturnedflange H on the lenses I3 and I4. The clamping ring I may besecured to the housing as by screws I8 or other suitable fasteningmeans. In order to force the lenses I3 and I l outwardly against theclamping rings I5, I provide a washer-like ring I8, the outer diameterof which corresponds to the inner diameter of the clamping ring I5,while the inner diameter of the washer-like ring I8 is smaller than theouter diameter of the lenses I3 and I4.

I havealso provided a flood lighting projector which includes a lens I9positioned in the lower part of the housing It in such location as toproject light downwardly and toward the side 8 of the vehicle 5 so as toilluminate any signs or inscriptions 0n the side of the vehicle. Theflood lighting lens I9 is arranged to project through an opening 2|] inthe housing It and is provided with outwardly turned flanges 2i adaptedto engage the inner surface of the housing It. I have provided clips 22and 23 in the housing III, arranged to extend over the flanges 2| of theflood lighting lens I9 to force the lens I9 outwardly against thehousing Ill. These clips may be secured to the housing in any suitablemanner, but I prefer to permanently attach clip 22 to the housing ID asby soldering, and make the clip 23 readily removable as by means of ascrew 24 tapped into a member 25, which is in turn permanently securedto the housing III.

In order to properly direct the light through the lenses I3, I4 and I9,I have provided a reflector 25 which is semi-cylindrical in shape, asbest shown in Fig. 3. The reflector 25 is held in the proper position inthe housing II] by means of springs 26, which are attached to the backof the reflector 25 and arranged to bear upon the upper interior surfaceof the housing and force the reflector downwardly against the lower partof the housing It. As is shown in Fig. 2, the ends of the reflector 25are cut back at an angle to allow light from a light source to passthrough the lenses l3 and I4. As a light source, I prefer to employwell-known electric lamps 21 which are installed in the usual manner insuitable lamp sockets 28 attached to the back of the reflector 25. Thewires 29 for supplying the energy for the lamps may be brought inthrough a suitable insulating bushing 38, installed in the side 8 ofvehicle 5, and extended into the lamp housing It) through the wireway 52of the chase'nipple II. I ,prefer to use a battery 3! as a source of energy for the lamps 21, which battery may be mounted in a suitablecompartment in the vehicle and access thereto may be obtained through aremovable hatch 32.

Referring to Fig. 4, it will be seen that I prefer to use a simplegrounded circuit arrangement for energizing the lamps 27. I thereforeground one side of the battery 3| to the metal frame of the vehicle 5and extend the other side through a switch 33, and thence to oneterminal of the lamps 21. The other terminal of the lamp 2'! thenreturns to ground from the socket housing 28 to the deflector 25, thencethrough the springs 26 to the grounded housing It.

As has been previously stated, this type of construction facilitatesremoval and renewing of the lamps 21. This may be accomplished byremoving either of the lenses 13 or i l and sliding the I reflector 25,together with the sockets 28 and lamps 21 attached thereto, out of theend of the housing II]. In this position the lamps may be readilyremoved and replaced and the reflector assembly reinserted in thehousing In.

It will therefore be seen that I have provided a combination lightingunit which will serve the triple purpose of providing a forward and arear light for a vehicle, and a flood lighting unit for the illuminationof signs or other matter on the side of the vehicle, and in which thesource of illumination employed for the flood lighting also acts as asource of illumination for the forward and rear lighting purposes. Thisunit is so constructed as to improve, rather than to detract from, theappearance of a Vehicle of this class, and is so constructed as toreduce to a minimum the cost of maintenance.

While I have shown and described the preferred embodiment of myinvention, I do not desire to be limited to any of the details ofconstruction shown or described herein, except as defined in theappended claim.

I claim:

In a lighting unit for vehicles, the combination of: a tubular housing;a pair of lenses each of which is identified with one end of saidhousing; means for attaching each of said lenses to said housing, saidattaching means comprising a retaining ring encircling said lenses andattached to the end of said housing; a flood lighting lens having aflange projecting into the interior of said tubular housing; means forattaching said flood lighting means to said housing; asemi-cyrestraining said reflector within said tubular housing.

ELZA HAWKINS.

